Blog

Spain’s BBVA and Repsol have teamed to launch the first MasterCard “Corporate Multi Card Fleet Card” in Europe. More than 100,000 “SOLRED MasterCard” cards are expected to be issued in the first year, according to this week’s issue of CardFlash International. The card is a combination of a payment and fleet card. The card is unique in Europe, since its corporate multi card functionality enables different functions to be combined on the same piece of plastic. Cardholders have a MasterCard card that they can use in MasterCard’s global network and a card that can be used at any one of the Repsol Group’s 3,500 petrol stations in Spain (Repsol, Campsa and Petronor) to receive a 2% discount. Another key benefit includes a monthly statement showing their fuel purchases and VAT breakdown. Cardholders can track and control their fuel expenses online, using the BBVA Net, Uno-e.com, LÃ­nea BBVA or LÃ­nea Uno-e services. In addition, they receive accident insurance cover, and travel assistance services. ([www.cardflashinternational.com][1])

Cash advance fees have increased 250% for small advances and 900% for large advances compared to 15 years ago. According to CardTrak(R), nearly all major bank card issuers charged a cash advance fee of 2% with a $2 minimum and a $10 maximum fee in 1989. Today, all major bank card issuers charge a 3% fee with at least a $5 minimum and no maximum.

Diebold Systems has secured a contract for professional and managed services to the Jammu and Kashmir Bank. Under terms of the deal, Diebold will provide around-the-clock, real-time remote monitoring and management from its dedicated Managed Services Centre in Mumbai for Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s network of more than 100 ATMs. Diebold also offers Jammu and Kashmir, a leading private sector bank, an electronic journal uploading service which transmits data to a central location and facilitates online analysis. The Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s 110 ATMs have also been supplied by Diebold, including a solar-powered machine at Leh. Jammu and Kashmir Bank is India’s first state government-owned bank and has over 450 branches across the country.

The National Association of Credit Management released its “Credit Manager’s Index” for May which shows an overall reading of 60.2%, a decline from its record high registered last month. This reading has fallen from its record high registered last month, as have those for both the manufacturing and service sectors. The readings indicate that although growth continues to be strong in each sector, the rate of change in May relative to April slowed with greater deceleration in the service sector. The National Association of Credit Management, headquartered in Columbia, Maryland supports more than 25,000 business credit and financial professionals worldwide with premier industry services, tools and information.

Costco Wholesale has installed its 200th fuel site with the Retalix “StoreLine Fuel Solution”. Retalix was selected as the preferred fuel application provider by Costco after extensive comparison and performance testing, and Costco is currently operating with the Retalix StoreLine solution in all of its North American fuel stations. StoreLine fuel provides high throughput and solid reliability in an unattended environment that includes some of the busiest fuel sites in the country. Costco currently operates 433 warehouses, including 320 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 63 in Canada, 15 in the United Kingdom, five in Korea, three in Taiwan, four in Japan and 23 in Mexico. Retalix Ltd., with North American headquarters in Dallas, TX, provides integrated enterprise-wide software solutions for the global retail fuel and food industries, including supermarkets, convenience stores, fuel stations and restaurants.

Diebold’s Board of Directors has authorized an additional two million share stock repurchase as it has approximately 170,000 shares remaining under its previous authorization. The company plans to opportunistically repurchase shares as a means of returning cash to its shareholders and offsetting the dilution from company issued shares under employee stock option and other award programs. Diebold, Incorporated, is a global leader in providing integrated self- service delivery systems, security and services.

Europe’s first cross-border interoperable m-payments system is taking shape. The T-Mobile “Mobile Wallet” system is based on a complete end-to-end solution provided by Encorus, which is majority owned by First Data. T-Mobile’s “Mobile Wallet” is available to T-Mobile customers on t-zones (T-Mobile’s mobile multi media services), enabling them to make simple and secure payments for goods and services from their mobile devices using existing credit or debit cards. The t-zones portfolio of infotainment offers already include a wide range of news, games, sport, music, finance and chat services. Uniquely, Encorus has provided T-Mobile with wallet software, transaction processing and merchant acquiring services. Merchants participating in the t-zones service include Allsports, Aral, ebookers, Germanwings, getgo, OTTO, Orion, TELTIX, and WHSmith to name just a few. At the end of 2003, T-Mobile had 61 million customers in its owned and controlled operations and around 90 million customers including its minority interests and network operations it manages directly owned by Deutsche Telekom.

U.S. Bank Voyager Fleet Systems announced an acceptance agreement with Ford Motor Company. “Voyager Fleet Card” holders will now be able to pay for products and services at all participating Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealership locations nationwide. More than 1,500 dealerships are currently enrolled in the “Voyager Fleet Card” acceptance program. Voyager Fleet Systems currently provides universal fleet fueling and maintenance card for over 1.3 million vehicles. The “Voyager Fleet Card” is now accepted at over 185,000 retail locations in all 50 states. The “Voyager Fleet Card” offers purchase control, exception monitoring, flexible reporting options, merchant discount, online customer access, tax exemption, as well as flexible billing and payment options.

APAC Customer Services this week announced that Paul Liska has resigned from the Board of Directors. APAC Customer Services, Inc. is a leading provider of customer interaction solutions for market leaders in communications, financial services, insurance, healthcare, logistics and travel and hospitality.

Fair Isaac announced the closing of its acquisition of London Bridge Software Holdings plc. In April, Fair Isaac announced it was acquiring London Bridge Software for about $299 million. London Bridge has more than 1,600 clients worldwide and provides a comprehensive portfolio of software and e-Commerce solutions including customer and enterprise management software, banking software, and credit management software. Fair Isaac intends to incorporate London Bridge’s core expertise and leading software and systems for collections and recovery into a solutions portfolio that already includes the industry-standard platforms for account management and fraud detection. Fair Isaac believes it can leverage London Bridge’s installed base of customers for collections and recovery to deliver collections-focused scoring solutions, giving businesses access to customer decision strategies powered and influenced by analytics at the critical revenue recovery stage.